


You Have Her Smile

by rosettared



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Comfort, F/M, pre-reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 15:03:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13906536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosettared/pseuds/rosettared
Summary: In which Adrien receives a visit from a little bug after the best dinner he's had all year.





	You Have Her Smile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Megatraven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megatraven/gifts).



> This was a Christmas gift for @megatraven on tumblr, but I hope you all like it all the same! Also available on my tumblr, rosettared.

Adrien felt a tug on his shirt before Plagg popped his head out from underneath his jacket. “Adrien,  _my cheese_ ,” he reminded his chosen for the seventh time, impatient.

He looked around to ensure no one was watching. “Alright, alright, I’ll get to that,” he whispered as he patted him back down. He was sure he wouldn’t be missed - his classmates were preoccupied with intensely watching and placing bets on Kim and Alix, who were going one-on-one on Dance Dance Revolution, the score margin frustratingly close. They wouldn’t even notice he was gone. 

Like a mouse – ironic to say for Chat Noir himself - Adrien quietly made his way from his bedroom to the kitchen. Gabriel had already dismissed most of the kitchen staff for the night, save the one who was serving the adults in the dining hall. He was hardly ever allowed in here, so the feeling of unfamiliarity and child-like wonder never failed to bubble up every time he opened the pantry, albeit only for the first few seconds.

After he grabbed a wheel of camembert from a shelf, his nose captured the overpowering scent of decadence and velvety chocolate, inviting him over to the stove. Over the moon to find a pot of leftover hot cocoa simmering over the hob, Adrien scurried over to the fridge. Plagg was hovering nearby, too busy munching on his beloved but rancid delicacy. 

“Marshmallows, cream, marshmallows, cream…” Adrien mumbled to himself over and over, as if it would better his chances of finding them.

There were none.  _Darn it._

He shut the refrigerator door with a huff.  _Won’t be like how Mom used to make them, but it’ll have to do,_  Adrien thought with a sigh, reluctant to come to that conclusion.

It would’ve been nice to have  _something_  of hers tonight.

10:55 pm, Adrien noted, when he was leaning against one of the front doors left ajar, staring at the courtyard, the stairs, the outside realm – all blanketed in white fluff. It stopped snowing a few hours ago. There wasn’t a soul in sight beyond the gates. He was almost tempted to run out and roll around – almost, because he was taught it to be unbecoming of the son of a world-renowned fashion designer. He brought the hot mug of cocoa to his lips, spoiling himself with all the time in the world to enjoy the rich sensation reaching his tongue, the heat penetrating his skin and flowing through his entire body.

“Yeah! Suck it, Kubdel!” a war cry echoed from afar, only followed by cheers that shook the very ground. He could only imagine what happened next – after he heard a long string of cusses and a stomp. That only meant bad, bad news for Kim because,

a) Alix usually reigned champ and there was yet to be a time she didn’t demand a rematch with the force of a typhoon, should she face defeat, and

b) Alix had an outrageously broad profane vocabulary. No amount of soap could wash her stupidly filthy mouth clean. She could easily curse Kim and his family all the way to his great-great-great grandchildren.

Adrien chuckled. He could hardly believe any of what tonight had become. Only hours earlier was he running on the rooftops of Paris, singing the anger off his chest and nearly lashing out on that Christmas tree. He frowned.

_What would Mom have thought of me then?_

Then he remembered what he heard from his room earlier. The noises that brought colour to the dull grey walls of the mansion.

Noises.

It had been far too long since Adrien had heard noises in this household. It didn’t matter if they were the same ones he heard every day in school - he was utterly grateful he finally won that battle. The words Gabriel told him earlier -  _I can’t bear losing you too,_  he recalled - may have planted an unfair seed of guilt in his conscience, but he felt that maybe his father made up for that. To see a familiar friendly face in every seat, to hear chatter and gossip and unadulterated _laughter_ at the dinner table - his heart could burst. Everything was incredibly overwhelming. 

Things couldn’t get any better than this. 

“Got any more of that?”

He spat out his drink.

Adrien almost stumbled over when he came face-to-face with spots and pigtails he knew all too well. He didn’t miss the quiet giggle the heroine made before nimbly somersaulting and landing gracefully on her toes at his doorstep. She simply watched as he struggled to regain his composure, her amused smile only growing.

 _I spoke_ way _too soon._

“Sorry,” she started, wiping the mirth from her face. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Ladybug!” Adrien bared his teeth wide behind his nervous smile, his free hand already gripping the back of his neck. “Ho-how nice of you to drop by! Can I get you anything?”

She stretched her arms over her head, folded them behind her neck and tapped her elbows together with a brief release of breath. “I was just wondering if you had any more hot chocolate. This bug’s just a little parched, is all.”

He looked down at his mug, knowing he had taken whatever was left in the pot, and then back at her expectant expression. “This was all that was left in the kitchen,” he explained apologetically. He brought forward the drink in hand. “Would you like some of mine?” 

Ladybug, quite hesitant, reached for the mug with both hands before pulling it towards her. She didn’t drink it straightaway, her reluctance only made him increasingly puzzled. She let out a humourless laugh.

Adrien raised an eyebrow. “Something wrong?”

She shook her head. “It’s nothing, just… I don’t mean to sound like a brat, but… I usually top my chocolate with a cow’s weight of whipped cream. Then I like to sprinkle some tiny marshmallows on top of that. I look in the mirror after I drink and I’ve become Santa.” Ladybug explained thoughtlessly.

_Does she also…?_

“And if Maman allows me,” she added. “I drizzle the whole thing with chocolate sauce! It really surprises me how on earth I haven’t already gained twenty pounds after each gulp!”

 _She_ does _, just like how Mom used to._

He motioned for her to down the whole thing as she was drinking it. “Thanks,” she handed back the empty mug to him and licking off what was left around her mouth. Adrien sat the mug on the floor at a distance from him, so he wouldn’t accidentally knock it over.

“So what brings you here?”

Her face fell, arms hiding behind her, one leg wrapping around the other. “I owe you an apology.” 

“I’m sorry?”

“No,  _I’m_  sorry.” Gone was the aura of free-spirit she may have had earlier, replaced only with seriousness. “You were right. I was wrong to just jump to the conclusion that Santa had been akumatized. I really thought he would hurt you. I guess I was just so worried, it kinda went over my head. I’m really sorry I didn’t listen to you.”

He offered her a small grin. She worried about him - granted, she didn’t know he was Chat Noir ( _not yet_ , he told himself, _when the time is right_ ), so hearing that was beyond comforting. “Hey, you were only looking out for me,” Adrien reassured. “All is forgiven. It’s Christmas, right?”

Nothing but cool winds passed between them, long enough it was almost awkward, before she opened her mouth to speak again. “I hope you don’t mind me asking but… why did you?”

“Why did I what?”

“You know, disappear?”

Adrien turned away and winced, but only for a split second – Ladybug would have missed it if she had blinked, but she hadn’t. In his head, he was weighing the pros and cons of telling her. On one hand, he didn’t know who was behind the mask – she could be anyone. He would be horrified to learn he opened up to, heaven forbid, one of his crazier fans. On the other, she was one of his closest friends, even if she didn’t know it yet. Telling her meant she would know more of him; her black-clad, pun-loving mess of a partner. It gave him comfort knowing she wouldn’t stand before a stranger when the day finally came to show themselves.

His head kept saying it was a bad idea, but his heart sung louder that she ought to know. She was a friend, after all – the one thing he struggled the hardest to attain his whole life.

“This is actually my first Christmas without my mother.” Adrien started, a heavy weight slowly lifting with each syllable he pronounced. “She vanished several months ago, and my father hasn’t been handling it well. And he’s always so caught up with work, I felt that he didn’t want to celebrate this year. He never acted like he wanted to…” There was a lump in his throat, but he fought his way to speak through it. “…like he wanted to spend his Christmas with me. I thought I’d have no one. Just another night of empty promises and broken families. So I ran.”

He finally raised his head up to see her, but what he had feared to see wasn’t what she wore on her face. He had expected sympathy, pity, for her heart to break on his behalf. Instead, she turned to take something she had kept behind her and unfolded it before him. He recognised it immediately. The memory of the snowflake-scattered red gift was fresh in his mind, but he didn’t recall seeing it after Ladybug’s restoration spell. 

“I ran into Santa on my way here, and he asked me to return this to you,” she said as he took it from her hands. “It’s a really pretty hat! Where’d you get it?” 

“Thank you. My friend Marinette gave it to me. She’s really great.” And that she was. Marinette pretty much had a reputation for how much she cared for her friends. He had to remember to thank her for that (oh, and the hat). 

If he had looked up then, he would have seen Ladybug oddly smiling at herself, like she knew so much more than he did. 

“Do you want to know something, Adrien?” He didn’t reply, so she took it to continue. “Word that you went missing spread like wildfire. The whole town was buzzing, calling each other, asking where you were. All of us went frantic looking for you. We got the police, sent out search parties… my point is that you _are_ cared for, Adrien. You _are_ loved. Your dad might not show it, but he does too. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have done all that he could to find you. 

“And you’re _so_ wrong about that last part, about broken families. Take a closer look at the people around you. Take a closer look at that hat! Do you think Marinette would’ve given it to you if she didn’t care about you? You have her, and Nino, and Alya, and everyone else from your class! Heck, you even have Chloe! Your friends all came to celebrate with you, right? You do have a family, Adrien – _they_ are your family.” 

She picked up his free hand and wrapped both of hers around it. “I want to leave tonight knowing that you’ll never forget that. I want you to remember that you’re never alone, not anymore. I can’t put any more emphasis on how much you mean to them. The next time you feel as though the world is against you, remember that you have them to stand by you. You even have me and Chat. You can count that the defenders of Paris will join you, should you ever call.” 

 _You’re never alone, not anymore._  

Adrien said nothing, and then he saw it as clear as day on her lips. There it was, the smile that alone glowed like sunshine in his memories. The smile that alone brought flowers after the rainstorms of his childhood. The smile that alone brought him back to her, back to her embrace. He returned hers with one of his own, but it couldn’t rival the one that radiated the pure warmth and runny-honey sweetness and _wonderfully_ _suffocating_ _love_ his mother showered him with. 

He got to have something of his mother’s tonight, after all. 

He couldn’t find the words to express how much she had enlightened him, how grateful he was that she had. “Ladybug, I-I don’t know what to say. I…” he cleared his throat. “Thank you, Ladybug. Really, I owe you so much.” He thought of it as another reason to protect her with his life. They were partners, of course, but this just added so much more to it. 

Though Adrien respected her wishes not to, his longing to know exactly who this gem of a girl was only strengthened at that very moment. He wanted to know more of the girl he’d give his all to. He wanted to thank her for giving him the greatest gift he had received this Christmas.   

She let his hand go and her smile only grew. “Please. It’s the least I could do. All I ask is that you heed my words.” She leaned towards him and planted a soft kiss on his cheek, and he instantly felt heat rising from the contact. “Merry Christmas, Adrien.” With that, she ran down the stairs across the courtyard, drew out her yo-yo and swung from building to building to, if Adrien guessed correctly, her family.

He knew people tended to forget that Ladybug was just a kid like him, which was why he was always patient with her when she wasn’t thinking straight. She was human, she was flawed and she messed things up – nothing, not even ancient kwami magic, could take that away from any miraculous wielder. 

Adrien’s hand went up to that spot on his cheek, where he still felt her burning touch, then he brought it to his lips. Pressing a lingering kiss on his fingers, he blew it in her direction and sighed, wistful.

“Merry Christmas, My Lady.”


End file.
